News Taxes Would Require Voter Approval Under CA Initiative

LOS ANGELES, CA – The signature-gathering period has officially begun for a new statewide measure that would make it an uphill battle for the government to raise taxes and spend revenue.

California’s Secretary of State Dr. Shirley N. Weber gave the green light for the signature-gathering effort on Tuesday. The initiative asks voters to authorize a constitutional amendment restricting the government’s ability to raise taxes and fees without first getting voter approval.

The initiative — and previous incarnations of it — are something of a holy grail for California’s Republican Party, which hasn’t won a statewide election in more than a decade and contends with a Democratic supermajority in the state legislature. If voters were to approve the ballot measure, then new state and local taxes would require voter approval in addition to two-thirds approval by the governing body (city or state) behind the tax.

The measure would also expand the definition of “taxes” to include regulatory fees. Tax measures would have to specifically limit how revenues may be spent.

If voters were to approve the constitutional amendment, city councils, school boards and the state’s Democratic legislature would be dramatically restricted in their ability to raise new funds for services.

According to the legislative analyst's office, the amendment would lead to "potentially substantially lower annual state and local revenues, depending on future actions of the Legislature, local governing bodies, voters, and the courts."

However, the initiative is far from even making it onto the ballot. Proponents now have until June 6 to get the 997,139 valid signatures of registered voters. If they pull it off, voters will get to weigh in on the Nov. 8 election.

The initiative’s official proponent, California Republican Party counsel Thomas W. Hiltachk, has a mixed track record.

In 2010, voters passed his Proposition 26, which requires a supermajority vote to pass certain new taxes and fees.

More recently, he was listed as the treasurer for Proposition 22, which passed last year, defining app-based transportation and delivery drivers as independent contractors. The most expensive measure in state history, it was approved by voters but has since been struck down by an Alameda County Superior Court judge, according to Ballotpedia.